A fraudulent email is circulating concerning election day for the Canadian federal election. The email says that voting will be held over a two-day period.
This is false. Election Day is Monday, January 23, 2006 only.
Elections Canada, http://www.elections.ca/ , is the official source for information regarding the election.
Please pass this information on, and remember to vote on Monday, January 23.
Damn. I was going to vote on the 24th.
I suppose you’re going to tell me that I have to be a Canadian too.
This URL should work: http://tinyurl.com/bp5ao
Do you think someone is trying to keep people out of the polls, to skew the election?
Since polling day is a weekday, is it also a public holiday to allow more people to vote?
It’s not a public holiday, but employees are entitled to paid time off to vote.
I wonder. Perhaps this is aimed at new citizens voting for the first time? Before this election, I would have said they would tend to vote Liberal, but now I’m not so sure.
Bet you a whole box of Timbits it’s an updated version of this.
Matt: Two years ago, I went to vote - I wanted to decline the ballot because I felt there was no party to vote for. When I went to the fellow behind the table, he said if I just handed the ballot back to him saying I decline, it would count as a spoiled ballot and garbage.
How do I decline a ballot so that it says what I want it to: there is no party honest enough to vote for?
I have checked Elections Canada and there is nothing there.
But contrary to public belief, you are allowd 3 hours to vote only if you are scheduled for the entire voting period (8:30 am to 8:00 pm) and have no opportunities to go otherwise.
So no cutting out for 3 hours on your 9-5 shift! grin
(not you, matt_mcl - I know you’re running)
There is no special category for “declined ballot.” However, if you choose to spoil your ballot (for example by attempting to write in a candidate, by writing a comment on the ballot, by marking more than one box, or by marking no box), it will be counted as a spoiled ballot, a separate category.
For each riding and each poll (every riding is divided into multiple polls), the official results will list how many votes each candidate got, how many ballots were spoiled, and how many electors there were. Spoiled ballots do not affect the results, but they are counted.
By the strictest letter of the law, I think your only option would be not to vote. I didn’t realize it until today, but it is illegal to spoil a ballot. Of course, as the article indicates, it’s unenforceable unless you’re public about it, but you’re wasting your effort trying since they don’t get counted anyway.
Pity there’s no Rhinoceros party any more - it was a good way to “spoil” a ballot. I suppose you could use the Marijuana party if they are running in your riding (they are in mine).
No Marijuana Party candidate in mine, but there is a Marxist-Leninist candidate, Janice Murray, who seemed in a bit over her head at the all-candidates meeting. (The Communist candidate, Cathy Holliday, didn’t show.)
In addition to them, I get to choose from:[ul][li]the parachuted-in former Torontonian turned ex-Harvard academic, Michael Ignatieff, running for the Liberals[]local boy John Capobianco, running for the Consevatives[]Phil Ridge running for the Greens[*]Liam McHugh-Russell running for the NDP.[/ul]Liam kicked ass at the all-candidates meeting, speaking with more fire and charisma than the rest of them put together. Ignatieff started off talking about the environment, and quite frankly sounded a lot greener at the start than the Green candidate. The Green candidate talked a lot about the immigrant experience and helping immigrants settle, and sounded a lot like what I expected the Liberal to. The Conservative started off with the usual Conservative themes of lower taxes and getting criminals off the streets. And the Marxist-Leninist candidate talked about reclaiming personal power from the corporations and ruling elite.[/li]
Who, oh who, am I going to choose?
Not the Conservative. I disagree with the Conservative party’s stance on gay marriage and a lot of other things.
Not the Liberal. I don’t like the way he was inserted into the riding by the national leadership over the wishes of the local riding association.
Not the Marxist-Leninist or Communist.
As usual, it comes down to, do I vote Green, or do I vote NDP.
I’m running out of time to decide.
I think CTV is overinterpreting the statute. As far as I can tell, improperly marking a ballot (for example, attempting to write in a candidate or some other message, voting for more than one person on the same ballot, or not voting for anyone) would not be the same thing as “defacing” it; that would seem to me to mean mutilating the ballot in such a way as to disrupt the voting process.
After all, as you point out, they have no way of prosecuting people who mark their ballot so as to spoil it; but it’s fairly obvious if it’s been cut into paper dolls.
As support, let me point out that the Canada Elections Act draws a distinction between spoiled and defaced ballots.
When I checked polling times on Friday as the office was deciding who’d come in late and who’d go early so as to allow us all a chance to get to the polls, I was surprised to see that one of the frequently asked questions about voting was Is someone allowed to eat a ballot?
No, thanks, despite the diet, I’m not that hungry.
Ah, dammit!
Do they say anything about masturbating with it?
Oh great. Now I’m going to be having nightmares about Stephen Harper again.
Bwah!
I guess my issue is: how do I let the “government” know that i feel there is no one to vote for? Voting is important but, when there’s no party to vote for, what do you do? I’m definitely not in agreement with “voting for the least of three evils” just to vote.
When there was a low turnout last election, they tried to blame it on the weather so they’re obviously not getting the message through not voting!